Cambridge biosolids plant ‘no longer viable’: mayor

The biosolids plant proposed for Cambridge is running into solid opposition at city hall.

Although the final decision will rest with Waterloo Region, Mayor Doug Craig believes this is something regional council is going to have to revisit.

“I believe the Cambridge site is no longer viable,” Craig said Wednesday. “The region completely botched its chance to properly inform the public and has lost their case.”

At least one city councillor has publicly called for a peer review of a planned biosolids plant, and a Cambridge company is throwing its weight behind that suggestion.

Officials with Lystek International, located on Bishop Street in Cambridge, claim they have developed technology that is efficient and would be less costly than the $80-million price tag currently attached to the project.

“We would welcome a peer review, provided it was conducted by a responsible third party,” Kevin Litwiller, Lystek’s business development director, told the Times. “I am confident our technology would show well.”

The company has just built, and is currently commissioning, a $10-million organic materials recovery centre in Dundalk, 25 kilometres south of Owen Sound, which Litwiller said will be able to convert 150,000 tonnes of biosolids and other non-hazardous organic materials into a Canadian Food Inspection Agency-registered fertilizer for agriculture and other uses.

At the highly-charged biosolids Public Information Centre last week at the Cambridge Sports Park, Coun. Pam Wolf said she would be asking city council to request Waterloo Region conduct a peer review of the technologies.

Since then, Cambridge council has passed a motion asking Waterloo Region to make a presentation at Cambridge City Hall.

“I have asked the region to come to our June 17 meeting, which will be televised, to make its presentation,” Craig said.

While the public will not be able to quiz regional staff at the council meeting, Craig said they will have a chance to voice their concerns.

Meanwhile, Wolf has also been busy.

“I have been in contact with the people at Lystek and I have asked them to send a representative when the region comes to make its presentation to council,” she said Tuesday.

Wolf said she feels the city is coming into the discussion about where to locate a new biosolids plant late in the process and she feels council needs as much information as possible.

“I want to see what they have to offer,” she said. “The region is making its decision based on information gathered in 2011. Things have changed since then.”

Litwiller said Lystek has “a variety of solutions we could offer Waterloo Region”.

In an email to the Times, Litwiller went on to say: “This conversation isn’t just about Lystek technology. It is about making decisions that are economically and environmentally best for the taxpayers of this region.”

He is confident a qualified peer review of the short-listed options in the region’s Biosolids Master Plan will show how the company’s technology would save millions of dollars in initial capital and operating costs.

It would also demonstrate how Lystek might reduce risks identified by both the region and community members, Litwiller said.

“We know that Lystek can address the needs of the region and eliminate the quality of life concerns that have understandably been raised by the residents of Cambridge and Waterloo,” he said in the e-mail.

Litwiller questions both the need and the cost of the biosolids facility proposed for Waterloo Region.

“We built a facility with a 150,000-tonne capacity for about $10 million and the region is looking at building a facility to process 40,000 tonnes for $80 million. I don’t understand it,” he said, in an interview with the Times.

One of the solutions Litwiller said could work would eliminate the need for the controversial new waste processing plant.

“It could be embedded right at the waste water treatment plant, where it belongs,” he said.

“It can be bolted on to the existing equipment.”

Lystek has done that for the City of Guelph to treat its biosolids and is currently working with the municipality of Central Wellington, where $2 million of its technology is being incorporated into a new $22.5 million sewage treatment plant.